A couple days back, when Denton posted the infamous shot of Pedro giving Don Zim the throw-down during the 2003 ALCS, it got me thinking:
Is that the hands-down craziest thing I’ve ever seen during a Red Sox game?
I have to believe it is. And I still wake up some mornings and ask myself, right after I check to make sure that no one’s swiped my rare Pete Schourek Collector Coins whilst I slept, if I really did see a rage-fueled Don Zimmer go nuts and charge Pedro Martinez, no doubt prompting his grandkids in the stands to wonder if pop-pop lost his shit.
It was insane and incredible and hilarious and really, really sad — particularly Zim’s tear-stained apology presser the following day. But it stands as the single craziest thing I’ve seen in more than three decades of watching the Sox.
That said, there are a few honorable mentions:
1) Jim Rice going into the stands at Yankee Stadium after some knucklehead in the crowd swiped his hat off his head. A testament to the badassery that was Jim Ed: While most of his fellow Sox were content to tussle with the Yankees’ players, he was taking on half the Bronx. Sox utilityman Laschelle Tarver backed Rice up, heading into the melee with a Louisville Slugger to sufficiently up the “what the f#$k am I watching” ante.
2) Julian Tavarez rolling the ball to first base. Because only Jools can turn a routine play into dinner theatre.
3) The flying pizza: Okay, it didn’t happen on the field. But that incident at Fenway a few years back wherein one fan tossed a slice of pizza at another has lived large in Sox infamy, no doubt because it was caught on camera and given the play-by-play treatment by Remy and DO. Where are those gentlemen today… and can NESN re-assemble them for a commemorative special?
I’m sure I missed several hundred. That’s what the comments are for.
